The Light in Darkness
by MyKullem3
Summary: My whole life I've been ridiculed. They always said it wasn't because of the way I am. I've known from a young age that I was different from the rest. So I tried to stay away from all the laughing and all the mockery. But running can only get you so far.


My whole life I've been ridiculed. They always said it wasn't because of the way I am, that they were only bullies. I've known from a young age that I was different from the rest. So I tried to stay away from all the laughing and all the mockery. But running can only get you so far. Sooner or later you're going to have to stop and smell the roses. Even if you're forced too. And when I finally came to realize this, a new chapter in my life had turned to a fresh page, a page that had no writing, no scribbles, and no masterpiece. A blank sheet of paper filled with all sorts of adventures just waiting to be written down. It was a chapter of fitting in, of feeling wanted for once (my parents are great, don't get me wrong. But they didn't understand the true me behind the mask I had carried for so long. I myself was scared, scared of change. Scared of the possibilities that stood in front of me. And for the first time in my life I'm telling that chapter in the story I call life. Revealing every moment, every memory. And every gentle touch. My story from when I was just sixteen. Every word still clear in my head now lain down on paper by an aged pencil that has seen many years. So, without further adieux, here is just one great chapter in the little thing I call the story of life:

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My life is anything from simple. Anything from ordinary. The village hidden in the leaves. It's my home, and I love it here! The crisp breeze that strolls by my window. The sound of the birds singing their symphony in perfect harmony. But I could never tell you what it looks like because I myself haven't seen it. How you ask? Simple. I was born blind. My whole life (from what I remember at least) has been in complete darkness. I've never had to worry about my hair or my clothes. And you know what? I'm happy I don't have to, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Lillian time to go!" my mother called at the base of the stairs.

"Kay mom!" I yelled back. So much for the alone time concept. I run down the aged wooden stairs that squeak under my bare feet.

"Where to this time mom?" I ask

"Hun, I can't go with you today."

"Hn? How come?" I ask trying to hide my joy. _**Trying**_ being the key word there.

"I have to write up a report for tomorrow."

"Does this mean I get to stay in my room?" I ask hopeful.

"Good try. No, go outside. It's good for you."

"Mooom!" I whined.

"Lillian. Don't make me ask you again."

"Fine." I grumbled.

"Take this with you." She says as she places the stupid walking stick in my hand thinking that I'll need it―which I don't. I see with my feet (hence the bare part), plus, I've lived here my whole life (although most of it in isolation), so I think I know where everything is! But instead of saying that, I say "Okay mom." And force a smile as I have so many times before. I'm sixteen and this will be my first time I've been outside at daylight without my mom. Sad, I know. But you know what? It's almost as if mom is giving me just a little more lead in life.

Mom wants me to 'train', that's the obvious part. But I don't want to train. I never want too. Besides, it's not like my mother would know I'm playing hooky. Besides, it's not like skipping one day of training and going to the village (which by the way I've never actually been in, the heart of the village I mean. I've always been on the outskirts; yeah…my mom's protective of me. My dad would be too, if it wasn't for the fact that he's constantly on missions.).

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I climb up a moss covered hill, the moss soft as it tickled the underside of my feet. Placing my hand on the rough bark of the surrounding trees, I run towards the heart of the village.

I can't believe I'm doing this!

I can't believe I'm doing this.

Am I really doing this?

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Too late to worry about that now, I'm already here! My feet touch the dirt road; it's a foreign feeling to my feet, a foreign place too. But I still know where most things are. Sometimes your feet and hearing are the better eyes. They can't deceive you as easily.

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"Hey, are you a Hyuga?" a male voice spoke in front of me.

"Nope." I reply kindly

"Really?" he said surprised "Then how'd you get the byakugan?"

"Excuse me?" I ask utterly confused.

"You're eyes posses the byakugan gene right?"

"No, they don't."

"Then how are your eyes so pearl white if you aren't from the Hyuga clan?"

"Simple. Blind." I say pointing to myself."

"Oh, sorry I didn't-"

"Didn't know? How could you? Don't pity me because I'm like this. I can see perfectly fine."

"But didn't you just say you were blind?"

"You don't need eyes to see." I swear I could feel him smile.

"I'm Choji." He says

"Lilian."

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"So how come I've never seen you around here before? Did you just come to visit?" he asks as we sit on the grass by a calm lake

"Complicated."

"How?"

"Eh. I live here, but I don't really _live_ here."

"Huh?"

"The leaf village is my homeland. But I've never really been to the busy part unless I was with my mom. And even then she wouldn't let me be past the outskirts."

"Oh, so is you mom here now?" I can feel the motion of his head as he looks in the different directions.

"Pfft! No! She has no clue I'm even here."

"Won't she be mad?"

"When is she not mad?" I ask myself out loud "Let's just say if she figures out I'm here, I'll be dead meat."

"We wouldn't want that now would we?"

"Nah. So do you have a sob story?"

"Yeah, who doesn't? I just didn't fit in. I was different."

"Different how?"

"I was overweight. So people made fun of me. They'd laugh and call me names. People can be cruel."

"You've got that right." I agreed placing my head in my hand, leaning on my leg.

"Oi! Choji! Who's your friend? She a Hyuga?"

"Lillian. Kiba. Kiba. Lillian." He pointed from person to person, introducing us.

"Hey." I say waving my index and middle finger.

"Yo!" he says as he does a weird little jumping thing and sits right next to me.

"You skipping training too?" he asks.

"Me or Choji?"

"You obviously! I'm looking right at you how can you not see that I'm talking to you?"

"Blind." I say pointing to myself.

"My bad. So you skipping?"

"Training? Hell yes! You?"

"Yup! How about you Choji?"

"Wasn't going too, that was until Lillian interrupted me."

"Don't blame me! If he gets in trouble I'll blame it on you." I say to Kiba.

"Right back at c'ya."

"So…what to do?" I ask out loud.

"How bout you come and meet the rest of the gang?" Kiba suggests.

"Sure! Why not?" I got up and so does Kiba. I turn around and ask "You coming Choji?" again, it was like I could feel him smiling.

"He's smiling by the way." Kiba whispered to me. Told you.

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"So, you a ninja? Cause I don't think I've ever seen you around before."

"Nope, I'm not a ninja. Although my mom makes me train as if I were one." I said sourly.

"Why?"

"Cause she thinks it's too dangerous for me to work as a ninja, but I should know how to fight if some evil dude comes along and attacks me."

"That's messed! If you can fight you should fight alongside the other nin!"

"Choji? Are you okay?" I ask

"She totally just ignored me! Dude, did you see that she ignored me!" Kiba says, basically talking to himself.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"Don't think too hard, you might hurt your head."

"Ouch. Burn!"

"Oh! No, no, no! I didn't mean it like that! You aren't stupid! It's just when people think to hard, or rather when I think to hard my head hurts cause I'm thinking to hard, so I told you not to think to hard so your head doesn't hurt, I'm rambling again aren't I?"

"It's cute." Choji says smiling. I could feel my cheeks warm up.

"Dude, she's blushing!" Kiba basically shouted.

"Shut it!" I punched Kiba.

"Ow! She has a killer punch too!" I glared at him, even though I can't see doesn't mean I know where he is and the positioning of his body.

"That's creepy. You're almost looking right at me. Look down 10 degrees." I do so "Okay, now it's really creepy. I'm going to look away now."

"Kiba! Choji!" someone cried not too far ahead of us.

"Yo! Ino! Is everyone here?" Kiba yelled back.

"Basically. Why?" she yelled back.

"We found a stray!" I glared at him again "I'm not going to look because you'll have it right this time."

"How many people do you know anyway?" I ask Choji.

"A few. They are all different too. Ino and Sakura are likely the closest in personalities."

"Hey Choji?"

"Yeah?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you talk to me on the street?" I ask looking straight ahead.

"Don't know. Maybe cause you seemed different. But mostly I think it's because you looked like the type of person to have a kind heart."

"Is that it?"

"You looked lost. It was cute."

"By the way he's blushing." Kiba said in my ear. I placed my hand on his face and pushed him away.

"Really? I was just trying to help!" he said annoyed.

"Hey. I'm Ino!" a girl said.

"Hey, I'm Lillian." Seriously this whole intro thing is getting annoying to have to repeat.

"I'm Naruto!"

"Hi, I'm Lillian." Okay let's get this over with now.

"Guys this is Lillian." Choji said it for me! "Lillian the names I say are the people who are in front of you in order." He whispered "Sakura, Rock lee, Hinata, Ten Ten, Neji, Sai, Shikamaru, and Shino."

"Hey." I wave my hand

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"It's getting dark out, I should likely go home. It was nice meeting you all!" I say.

"Do you want me to walk you back?" Choji asks.

"Why not?"

"I got chips!" Naruto yelled (I think it was him…)

"Choji you still going?" Ino asks.

"Yeah. If you eat the last chip…well you know what'll happen."

"If you want to stay go ahead. I don't want to take away from spending time with your friends."

"I see them all the time. You on the other hand, I don't. So I'd rather walk you back."

"Suit yourself."

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Choji and I have been walking awhile now. For some reason it seems longer on the way back. Maybe it's because I want to cherish the time with another actual human teenager, or maybe it's because we're not going the way I came (and I doubt that's the case.) There is silence between the two of us, but it's a comfortable silence.

"Sorry if this comes off as rude, but…well I was thinking…have you ever wanted to be able to see?"

"Sure I have. Loads of times. But I think my mom wanted me to be able to see more than I did. She's taken me to so many doctors. They all say the same thing though 'her retina and cornea are too damaged for any repair…if we try…her eyes might fall out of her sockets. I'm sorry but it's too dangerous. We can't risk that little girl's heart that's filled with hope to have them stomped on when it doesn't work. I'm sorry but there's nothing we can do.' I've 'seen' a lot of doctors in my life, and they all say the same thing. So after awhile I accepted me 'disability'…even though…to me; it isn't one."

"It must have been hard." His voice sincere.

"It was, but I got through it. We're at the outskirts. We should likely go our separate ways. If my mom saw me with an 'outsider', much less a guy. She'd freak."

"Okay" his voice saddened a little "Will you come back here tomorrow?" his voice filled with hope.

"I'll try my best." I say smiling "Thanks Choji."

"For what?"

"For making me feel accepted." I smile and give him a hug. Kiss him on his cheek and turn around to go back home.

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"Hey mom. I'm home!" I say kissing her on the cheek as she sat at her desk rubbing her temple as she often does when she tries to remember what happened in a mission. "How's the report going?"

"Ugh, I hate paperwork! You're lucky you don't have to do any! This is going to at least, take me another two or three days to finish."

"Wasn't it due like three days ago?"

"I'm behind on my paperwork dear. They understand."

"So does that mean I train by myself again tomorrow?"

"I'm afraid so. And maybe, and only _maybe,_ you can go to the busy part of the village to pick up some supplies. I'd get the shop keepers to bring the things to you so you wouldn't have to go inside."

"Hey….mom?"

"What is it sweetie?"

"Can I go inside the village?"

"No. It's too dangerous."

"Why?"

"Because there are many things there that you could knock into."

"Is that the only reason?"

"People would make fun of you and you wouldn't know where to go. People would call you a freak."

"I'm okay with that, besides, it'll teach me not to bump into the things again. Can I please go in?"

"No Lillian. I'm not going to talk about this anymore."

"But, maybe if-"

"Lillian." Mom said in a warning tone.

"Okay. I'll just go to my room." I say in a saddened tone.

"I'm only doing this to keep you safe honey, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I love you."

"_Umhum_." I always say '_umhum_' when I'm angry or annoyed at my parents when they say to me 'I love you', I know it is mean, but she needs to let me grow up a bit.

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"I'm going mom. Do you want me to pick up the things?"

"Don't worry about it hun, I'm getting everything delivered here." Of course you are. "Have fun training!"

"Kay. Bye."

"Lillian! Your walking stick!" She yelled to me as I was almost out of the door.

"I don't need it!"

"I'd feel safer if you had it with you."

"Fine." I grabbed the stick out of her hands.

"And actually use it this time!" ugh.

"Okay."

"I love you."

"_Umhum_."

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So much for the training. I just hope mom doesn't come to check up on me! She likely won't have the time to anyway. She's always to busy anyway.

"Fancy seeing you here."

"Hey Kiba."

"I'm surprised you came back."

"Why?"

"Don't know."

"Great answer."

"Thanks."

"Where's Choji?"

"Training with Shikamaru and Ino…I think. You like him don't you?" he asks bending down to my height. I looked at his direction, and looked away.

"You do like him! Also, you've became awesome with the eye contact thing. Did you practice it?" I looked at him and looked away, twice. "You did!"

"Shut up."

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"Oi! Choji, Lillian's here to see you." Kiba yelled. I punched him; s'yall good.

"Really?" Choji asks surprised.

"Yup!" Kiba smiled. This is so embarrassing. But…I did come to see Choji…

"Why'd you do that Kiba? He's training. I don't want to take him away from that."

"He won't care. Besides he likes you."

"You suck at keeping your mouth shut don't you?"

"Only when it comes to the two of you!"

"I hate you." I said mockingly.

"I hate you too." He replied with the same tone.

"Hey Lillian." Choji said kindly.

"Hey Choji, if I'm keeping you from training just tell me and I can leave." I said already turning around.

"No!" Choji said quickly as he grabbed my wrist keeping me there "I want you here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're cool."

"Thanks. You're cute."

"But you've never seen what I look like…?"

"I don't have to. The only important thing to see isn't the face or the body, it's the heart."

"This is intense." Kiba commented, with his arms folded.

"Dude! You totally just ruined the moment they were having!" Ino slapped him on the upside of his head.

"Ow!" Kiba cried. I laugh; I didn't need to see his reaction, all the emotion was in the voice. All the happiness and I guess you could say pain too…

"You have a cute laugh." Choji told me.

"Thanks." I smiled. No one really tells me things like that. After all, I don't have many friends.

"See I didn't ruin the moment."

"Kiba. Just shut up already." Ino told him.

"I brought a bag of chips, wanna share?" Shikamaru asks.

"Sure!" I say immediately. It didn't take long for the five of us to finish the bag.

"Here Choji." Ino said handing him the last chip.

"Do you want the last chip Lillian?"

"He's giving her the last chip! He _never_ does that!" Ino whispered.

"Here have half." I broke the chip in half and gave one to him, while I ate the other.

"You saw that right? He offered her the _last_ chip. I'm not imagining this right?" Ino whispered to Kiba and Shikamaru again.

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I guess you could say it all started when I got the last chip. That it was the turning point for our relationship. But for me it was the eventful day that my mother had to finish her paperwork and I went to where I wasn't allowed. When I was first asked about my eyes. The first time I heard his voice. People are too dependent on their eyes, they discriminate because of them. With no sight I am able to see the truth behind a person's heart without having to actually _see_ what they look like. I likely wouldn't have liked Choji if I had grown up with sight and lived in the downtown area. I likely would have become a ninja and would have become great friends with him. Choji has a kind heart, a sensitive one, a fragile one. He's selfless, and that makes him all that much better. I never was able to see the face I loved. But my love was just as strong. Because sometimes the heart is the better eye, because sometimes the only eyes you need is your heart. This is just one chapter in my life that Choji was, and is apart of. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

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_**~~~Side note~~~**_

**Okay, so this idea has been in my mind for a **_**long**_** time. But I was never able to decide on what Naruto character would fit best. In the end I chose Choji, I love him as a character even though most don't. And I think if he were to face a situation like this one, he would be kind and gentle about it. At first I wanted to make this a one shot, then a story, and then a one shot again. So it's a one shot. **

** I actually searched Choji on Fanficiton and there aren't that many OC's with Choji, which is another reason why I chose to write this story. I find that today everything has to be about kissing or sex to be considered 'good' I wanted to write about something that didn't have much of the mushy stuff (don't get me wrong, I like it) and I also felt the mushiness wouldn't work with this fanficiton. **

** Oh! And the whole eye thing, I haven't studied that stuff in a long time so the parts I'm talking about may be wrong, and I don't think that someone's eye would fall out of the socket if they were blind, I just had to sort of 'overdue' it. But I'm not sure if it would or not. **

** I also chose to write about a blind girl because so far, I don't think anyone else has. To me, it's a unique idea, with many possibilities. Besides I haven't read a fanfic with a person who was blind, couldn't walk, who was deaf, or who was mute. So why not? It also gives a different point of view on things. **

**I hope you liked it, and I'm really sorry if I wasn't able to represent Choji properly, it's been awhile since I watched the series with the episodes with him in it (although the chip thing was really memorable, so I had to add that tidbit in). **

**Okay, I'm done. I hope you liked the story!**


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